the world as we know it -- bellarke au

chapter four - sour reunions

c l a r k e   g r i f f i n

I wasn't on the list. 

Monty, Jasper, and Harper were moved to new rooms, leaving only me, Murphy, Raven, and Octavia in the dorm. It felt empty with only four people, especially after living in a bustling camp for the past few weeks. 

As the others got some rest, I taped drawings to the wall beside my bunk. I hung the one of Bellamy, one of my parents, and another of Wells, along with some sketches of flowers and stars from my time on the ground. 

If only my father had gotten to see Earth. I think it would have been everything he could've ever imagined --- every story he told me, every picture he showed me, it was a thousand times more magical. Even inside Mount Weather, the buzz of the world around us was tangible. Like you could reach out and touch it. It was like the whole world vibrated, and we shook with it, in harmony, coexisting. I couldn't ever imagine having to go back to space. 

I stared at my pictures for a while. What future awaited us in Mount Weather? Raven could get a job as a mechanic, surely, with all the technology they had keeping everyone alive. Octavia could join the guard, or start a family with Lincoln. I wasn't really sure what her aspirations were. Murphy would... well, he would survive. If he ever did anything with his life, I'd be pleasantly surprised. 

But what about me? President Wallace seemed to be an artist. But he was also the president. He had time for luxuries like canvases and oil paints. When we were on the ground, I had resigned myself to being the leader, the doctor, the caretaker. The one looking after everyone else for the rest of my life. Would it still be like that at Mount Weather? Or would President Wallace take over that duty?

Thinking about the president somehow summoned him to the room. 

Octavia sat up as he arrived, but he waved to me. 

"Clarke," he said. "Would you join me for a walk?"

I had gotten used to the president's tone. I knew when he was trying to be friendly, when he was trying to make me realize something, when he was trying to soften a blow. This wasn't an attempt at friendliness. He wanted to talk to me about something, and he wanted to do it somewhere the rest of my friends wouldn't overhear. 

Silently, I slid out of my bunk and followed Dante into the hallway. 

"Come along," he said, starting to walk. 

I followed. "Where are we going?"

He didn't reply for a while, until we had turned a few corners. "We've recovered more of your friends," he said calmly. 

My heart leapt. 

"Unfortunately, one of them is refusing to go through the decontamination process until he speaks to you."

"He?"

We turned another corner, where a giant room made of glass stood in the centre of the white walls. A person stood against the back wall, head bowed and arms crossed. 

"I believe he is one of the ones in your drawings," President Wallace said. 

He was.